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BBC<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A US man who spent nearly four decades in prison for murder has been released after new DNA evidence pointed to a different person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maurice Hastings served more than 38 years in state prison for the 1983 murder of Roberta Wydermyer in California and two attempted murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But new DNA evidence instead pointed to another man who died in prison in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now 69, Mr Hastings has been released from prison after his 1988 conviction was vacated on 20 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LA County District Attorney George Gasc\u00f3n described his conviction as a “terrible injustice”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The justice system is not perfect, and when we learn of new evidence which causes us to lose confidence in a conviction, it is our obligation to act swiftly,” he added in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roberta Wydermyer was found in the boot of her car with a single gunshot wound to the head in 1983. She had earlier been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Hastings was subsequently charged with murder and prosecutors sought the death penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a hung jury, a second jury convicted him and he was sentenced in 1988 to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time of the victim’s autopsy, semen was detected in an oral swab. Mr Hastings had maintained his innocence from the moment he was arrested, but a request for DNA testing of the swab in 2000 was denied by the district attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually he was able to put in a claim of innocence to the DA’s Conviction Integrity Unit in 2021 and DNA testing in June found that the semen was not his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DNA profile instead matched a man who had been convicted of an armed kidnapping where he placed his female victim in a trunk of a vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a court hearing on 20 October to vacate his conviction, Mr Hastings told reporters he wasn’t bitter and wanted to enjoy the rest of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I prayed for many years that this day would come,” the Associated Press quoted Mr Hastings as saying. “I am not pointing fingers; I am not standing up here a bitter man, but I just want to enjoy my life now while I have it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BBC A US man who spent nearly four decades in prison for murder has been released after new DNA evidence pointed to a different person. Maurice Hastings served more than 38 years in state prison…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[1803,2639,2638,713,239],"class_list":["post-7716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-dna","tag-evidence","tag-maurice-hastings","tag-prison","tag-us"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n